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I feel a bit guilty for the lack of crafting shennanigans with the Turtle this year. Other years there were all kinds of salt dough and foam and whatnot. This year, I can drive, so we haven’t been in the house. Freedom!!

Still, we have managed to do a few bits.

Christmas play dough – just like normal play dough, but make it yourself, so you feel virtuous. While you do that, let your toddler play with the glitter that you inadvertently left within reach. Use the play dough as a sponge to gather up the glitter. Ta da! Glittery play dough. Use Christmas-y cookie cutters. Delight a small boy.

Ginger bread cookies – because I have no idea what other kind of cookies you can cut. Decorate with blue icing (“I’m is a boy Momma”) and random sprinkles that have been living in the cupboard for more than a year and have some kind of Disney princess theme going on (shoes and crowns!?) because they don’t go off, right? Well, if they do, you have never heard of anyone dying from gone off sugar and food colouring. Consume as much of there as you are able. (As an aside, I made these exact same cookies last year. Same recipe. Everything. The Hubby would not touch them. This year, he eats them like they are going out of style. Apparently, “a year with no salt or sugar skews your tastebuds”. Hmmmmmmmm!!!!)

And my favourite, cookie cutter printing. I can not do potato printing, or any other kind of vegetable printing for that matter. Nothing is recognisable and there is usually blood shed – mine – from foolery with the knife. Hand prints and foot prints turned into cute Santas/reindeer/Christmas trees are also beyond us – everything turns into a big brown blob and there’s so much paint it seeps through the paper. I shout. The Turtle gets bewildered and runs away leaving a trail of brown paint behind him. Disaster. With cookie cutter printing, you pour out some paint (“Blue Momma, blue!”), they dip the cookie cutter into it and then stamp it on the paper. You can embellish it later and send it to Grandparents. They like that.

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I have great notions of making an Advent activities calendar. Great notions altogether. Look at this. Isn’t it pretty?

Still, just because we don’t have the accessories, it doesn’t mean we can’t do the activities.

So far, we have:

been to see a Christmas movie – Arthur Christmas. The constant refrain? “I don’t like this theater. I want to go home.” It would seem that when you bring a country mouse to the big city movie theater, well, it freaks him out. More than a bit. The small, cheap theater from now on then.

done some baking. Christmas should involve lots of baked goods. There are plans afoot to make mince pies, Christmas cookies and perhaps a pumpkin pie (the Hallowe’en pumpkin is still looking balefully at me from its prime spot in the kitchen).

collected pine cones, to be painted, glitterified and adorned with shiny things later in the week.

gone on a walk of the neighbourhood to see the lights. “Oh wow Mama! Look at that!” He was over awed by the lights (which were fairly unspectacular). We might go a few more times. It’s a nice after dinner activity, even if it is a bit cold (California cold, so not really, but we’re wimps now!) He was concerned that Santa wouldn’t come to our house if we didn’t have lights up. “Is the Christmas light man coming to our house to put up the lights?”, “If the Christmas light man is Daddy, yes.”, “Daddy!! You have to put up the lights.” Love that child.

We missed the Christmas parade because we were all sick.

So left to do, we have:

making snowmen and Santas with cotton balls

painting the patio doors in the kitchen, with tempera paint (mixed with dish soap).

decorating the tree/watching the Hubby out up the lights

“write” a letter to Santa, and watch his message from Santa. Portable North Pole is soooooooooooo cool!

maybe do a gingerbread house

some doily snowflake shennanigans

Christmassy colouring in/stickers (you can’t go wrong with stickers)

make Christmas cards

meet Santa – maybe get a picture where he’s not crying!!

the Hubby’s work Christmas Potluck party (where there will be an abundance of pasta dishes, and maybe a bouncy castle)

Christmas books

And that’s all I’ve got. But, I reckon we’ll be redecorating the tree every day anyway, so that will keep us busy!